Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, characters or anything. This is just a hobby
Chapter 2 - Fighting
Hinata had just turned 12 when Itachi and Shisui asked if they wanted to have a spar. Hinata, Shikamaru,and Sasuke were going to graduate in half a year so they all had enough taijutsu skills for that.
It became their new tradition. Neji, Hinata, Sasuke and Shikamaru always teamed up against Itachi and Shisui, who were older and in ANBU so they always won, but with practice, the younger team's teamwork had become much better.
It was a functional team too; against two Uchiha geniuses, Sasuke's knowledge of Uchiha was necessary. Neji and Hinata had their Byakugan, ultimate taijutsu, and a very good skill to read each other's thoughts. Shikamaru was a beginner in real-life fighting strategy, but he had planned their tactics from the beginning anyway.
Their extra training never came up anywhere until about a month before graduation when they had taijutsu practice at the Academy.
"So, we are taking short spars. Are here volunteers to be first?" Iruka-sensei asked after he had explained what they were going to do.
Naruto was immediately shouting overenthusiastically that he wanted to be first and Hinata pushed her face down and tried to look invisible so Iruka-sensei wouldn't pick her. How was Naruto so confident? She couldn't help a small blush.
Then the unexpected happened. Sasuke raised his hand and Hinata's and spoke with a loud, clear voice.
"I and Hinata want to spar against each other first."
Hinata watched him in horror. Sasuke was just smirking her smugly. The whole class stared at them, even Naruto had quieted down for a moment. Hinata was embarrassed. She didn't have any skills to show. Why did Sasuke have to torment her?
"What a great idea! Uchiha Sasuke and Hyūga Hinata, step to the sparring area", Iruka instructed.
They bowed to each other. He was looking confident. She was looking nervous. Everyone was looking at her right now, after all.
Iruka was about to begin the match when suddenly Sasuke seemed to notice her nervousness signing Iruka not to start the match just yet and walked to her and put his hand on her shoulder.
"Hey, Hinata, we have sparred before and it has gone ok, just focus on the spar and not to them, ok?"
He was right. There was nothing new about this but the crowd. She nodded and took a much more confident stance and activated her Byakugan. Sasuke looked pleased and took his Uchiha style stance as well. He had not gotten his Sharingan yet.
Iruka started the match only to notice that Sasuke had already moved. Just like last week against Naruto. That move had ensured his victory then and Iruka was quite sure the same happened now until he saw Hinata had evaded it like it was the easiest thing in the world to do.
"Tricks like this don't work to me, Uchiha. Have you already forgotten I can see my back?" she said with a slightly insulting tone no one from the class had never heard from her mouth.
She proceeded to long series of swipes aiming to block his tenketsu. The crowd flinched as it was new to see her attacking this seriously with Hyūga techniques.
"Hyūga. Blocking three chakra points does absolutely nothing to me", Sasuke taunted her confidently.
"Good thing I blocked six then, Uchiha?"
He didn't waver but used the situation that her small moment of smugness had given to him and landed a strong kick to her. She flew in a rather large curve to the ground. It hurt so much. His kicks were insanely strong and receiving it had brought her at her limit.
Most of the girls in class were cheering Sasuke. Iruka was about to stop the match seeing Hinata on the ground obviously in pain when he saw Team Gai walking past the training grounds. They were probably on their way home after their daily D-rank mission.
Hinata heard Neji's voice: "Hinata-sama. Don't give up."
"Niisan..." she mumbled and tried to gather some strength.
She stood up. Neji was right. How could they ever win Itachi and Shisui if she couldn't even match her own teammate? She took her stance again and started a long series of swipes, which Sasuke evaded well. But Hinata kept patiently pushing him, never stopping her combination of swipes and punches.
Neji's words and Sasuke's kick had released adrenaline to her blood and for the first time ever she felt good and strong. She could do this. At that moment she didn't care if her opponent had been the Fourth himself, she would win this.
Sasuke's back hit a tree and Hinata's arm automatically stretched back to strike a Hakke Kūshō when she felt a hand stopping her. Her dream-like state shattered only to saw Sasuke's slightly terrified face.
"Hinata-sama, stop", Neji whispered to her while he held her hand and turned his face to Iruka: "Hinata-sama won the match. Sasuke-san would have died if her Hakke Kūshō had landed to his heart coil."
Iruka nodded: "Winner, Hyūga Hinata!"
Their class clapped awkwardly. Sasuke had never lost the match and Hinata seldom won any. And this was the first time anyone had won with a lethal strike. Hinata collapsed since the pain tolerance of the adrenaline was vanishing and effects of Sasuke's kick was starting to appear. Neji and Sasuke helped her up and to the hospital to check up.
Medic had examined her and stated she could go home, so they had decided to have early dinner at the Akimichi restaurant. They met Shikamaru and Choji there and of course stayed at their table.
"Hinata, you were awesome! Nobody can come and tell that there is no strong kunoichi after that!" praised Choji. He really was an awesome person. It was a shame so few noticed that.
"Thank you Choji-kun. Sasuke-kun, I am really sorry I almost killed you", she apologized to him embarrassed bowing to him at the same time.
"Tch. You cannot get strong without taking any risks" he commented. Neji nodded to that.
"O-oh", Hinata said, she had, of course, heard that particular sentence many times from her father before but it was now she actually realized what that meant: "Thank you for a beneficial match, Sasuke-kun!"
"Hn."
On that moment, Itachi and Shisui decided to barge in the restaurant.
"Oi, Hinata-chan! We heard you have been at the hospital today!" shouted Shisui in his unique laid-back style.
"Did you got hurt on an Academy spar?" Itachi asked with his monotonous tone.
"H-hai. I was fighting against Sasuke-kun and he managed to land a kick on me", she answered.
Shisui patted her head: "Don't worry Hinata, you will win someday for sure!"
"What a drag. Hinata won the match after almost landing Hakke Kūshō to Sasuke's heart after she was kicked", corrected Shikamaru.
Hinata wanted to avoid this. She really didn't know how Sasuke's brother and his cousin would react her almost killing their relative. Neji seemed to worry that too since he tensed noticeably.
Itachi's eyes turned to her curiously: "You almost killed my brother today? After he had managed to land one of his legendary strong kicks?"
She averted her eyes ashamed: "H-hai."
Her eyes widened when Shisui started patting her back: "Congratulations on your victory, Hinata! It is one step on a road to shinobi to accidentally almost kill your friend. But be more careful next time, okay?"
Itachi nodding her somehow supportively and turned his gaze to Sasuke: "You, on the other hand, perhaps noticed it is not very beneficial to play with a Hyūga."
He grunted something like an agreement.
Even if Hinata had not received any serious injuries from her earlier battle, she grew tired pretty soon. Sasuke and Neji had, however, started to get along well and she didn't want to force Neji to leave yet by asking him to escort her home.
She was dozing off sitting on her seat when she felt a hand on her shoulder. It was Itachi's.
"Hinata-chan? Do you want me to escort you home?" She nodded so he helped her up.
"Hinata-sama? Do you wish to go home?" asked Neji, who just noticed her.
"Hai. Itachi-san promised to escort me", she answered.
Neji looked a little suspicious but decided after receiving a subtle glare from Itachi that she could go with him.
They left the restaurant only to hear Shisui shouting: "Be nice, Itachi!" only to receive Itachi rolling him his eyes.
It was weird to be alone with him. After she had brought Shikamaru to the Uchiha compound to play shogi for the first time, they had sure seen each other a lot but there had always been others.
They were walking in silence which gave Hinata time to think after the eventful day. Itachi was very nice to offer to escort her home but in a situation like this, it really felt they had nothing in common or even nothing to talk about. Not to talk about her crush on Naruto that had not vanished anywhere.
Sure, she knew Itachi much better that before and she had noticed he was an awesome person. She was truly glad they were friends. But, looking at him didn't make her feel like looking at Naruto did. He was so much older than her it would have been only weird to think about him like that.
"Hinata-chan? What are you thinking?" he asked. Hinata had probably looked weird since there was a hint of worry in Itachi's voice.
"What if this doesn't work? What if I never start loving you and then you are stuck with a wife who doesn't and then I will be bothering you even more than now and..."
He took her for a friendly hug.
"Shhh, Hinata-chan. Don't stress so much. You are only 12, there is plenty of time before anything happens", he soothed her.
Salty tears were dropping to Hinata's cheeks. He kneeled in front of her to dry them.
"Are you more worried about that you need to marry someone you don't want to or that you will somehow ruin my life?"
Hinata's eyes widened: "No! You understood wrong! I don't want to marry anyone but you... I mean... You know what I mean. But I don't want to be a bother..."
"Then I assure you, you have nothing to worry about. We are friends, right? Even if you don't end up falling for me I am luckier than many in our situation to have a girl like you by my side, don't you think?"
"I don't know..."
"Try to not to stress out so much. And if something bothers you, you know you can always tell me."
"H-hai..."
Itachi thought for a minute before taking a curious-looking necklace off him and put it to her.
"Here. I was supposed to give this to you when you turn 16, but you have proved so many times you are already worth it. Think it as a promise that I will be there no matter what the situation or your feelings were."
"I-Itachi... You don't need to..."
"I want to."
"Then I... I want to promise to do my best as well..."
He nodded and they walked to the gates of the Hyūga.
"Ooooh, Hinata! What is that on your neck?!"
It was Ino. It was always Ino who noticed these things and obviously needed to shout them to everybody as well.
"What is there? Show me, Hinata-chan! I want to see!" shouted Naruto. Sakura hit him to the head which made him whine.
"What a drag", muttered Shikamaru when he saw Hinata blushing under the attention of the whole class.
"I-It's a necklace..."
"That stone is so beautiful! It must have been expensive!" Ino squeaked. That rose Sasuke's curiosity.
He walked lazily to Hinata's desk and commanded others with his most impressive voice: "Leave her alone." Others took a step back but kept the attention to Sasuke and Hinata.
He watched the piece of jewelry curiously, then turned his eyes to hers and started smirking. If she was wearing the necklace, the whole engagement issue was kind of public information, so why not having some fun?
"Sasuke-kun? Do you know something we don't?" asked Sakura, who as a clever girl had picked up there was more to this story.
To everyone's surprise, he actually answered: "Yeah."
Naruto looked he barely could contain himself: "Then tell us already, Teme!"
He shrugged.
"That necklace is a part of an old Uchiha tradition. For who knows how many generations it has been given from one of our clan as a sign of love and devotion. It is kind of like an engagement ring."
Hinata's eyes widened. Itachi had not spoken anything about that! The whole class watched shocked. Ino and Sakura seemed to be about to cry.
"Sa-Sasuke-kun, you never said you already had a girlfriend..." they sobbed, clearly assuming the necklace was Sasuke's. There were no other Uchiha currently at the Academy after all.
Sasuke smirked even wider. Hinata looked she wanted to vanish. She always hated attention.
"Oh no... That necklace is not mine."
The silence was unbreakable.
"Then whose it is?!" shouted almost the whole class clearly ignoring the fact that they could just ask Hinata.
At that time, Iruka stepped to the classroom.
"Maa, maa, class. Calm down, It is time to start the lecture!"
The whole class quieted down but kept glancing at Hinata. Iruka continued.
"Today our subject of the day is ANBU Black Ops. About this has come to tell us Uchiha Itachi, who serves currently as a captain of an ANBU squad."
Itachi stepped in and Hinata wanted to vanish even more. Nobody had ever witnessed Sasuke smirking like he did now.
"Niisan. What an excellent surprise this is."
"Ototo", he answered nodding and clearly unbothered by his suggestive tone. Iruka, however, watched them and wondered what was this all about.
Itachi had told about his work in ANBU and how the division generally worked.
"Now, does anyone have questions?" he asked like one usually do after a lecture.
Sasuke didn't bother to raise his hand when he asked: "Have you recently given any girls jewelry?"
The whole class gasped and turned their heads to Hinata.
"Excellent question,ototo. Any other ones? About ANBU this time?"
It was so humiliating. Hinata wanted to die. All that attention because of a thing she had no control over. Her face was burning. She was so shocked she didn't almost hear she was being called.
"Hinata? Are you there?"
It was Iruka-sensei. He had somehow understood what was going on, he had been aware of the contract between clans after all, and had gone to calm Hinata down, Itachi following closely.
"H-Hai sensei, Itachi-san..." she answered clearly dazed from a shock.
"A word, Hinata? Could you be kind and explain the situation to everyone, Umino-san? Sasuke, please prepare to die once we get home", told Itachi professionally leaking some killing intent to his brother's direction and making a few students flinch.
Hinata followed him to the hallway. He soothingly caressed her hair.
"Are you okay, Hinata? My foolish brother doesn't always think things through."
"H-Hai, Itachi-san. B-but why didn't you tell me about the l-l-love and d-devotion part of this n-necklace?" she sniffed.
Itachi chuckled a little.
"So ototo told you about that? Hinata. Don't worry what others think. I told you last night why I gave you that necklace and I meant every word I said."
"You are right... I am acting foolishly.."
He took her hand supportively to his.
"Now, go back to class. There is nothing to be ashamed of."
"Hai."
She went to the classroom returned to her seat.
Hinata had suddenly become the most popular girl at the Academy. Especially the girls in her class thought that the whole arranged marriage thing was romantic and that her fiancée was some kind of god.
So they asked about it. A lot. Shikamaru, Choji, and Sasuke had had lunch at her table but seemed suffering being bombarded by questions.
"Do you love him?" questioned Sakura.
Hinata felt a little heat on her cheeks: "Umm..."
Ino luckily interrupted: "Have you already kissed him?"
Hinata and Sasuke choked on their lunches.
"Of course not!" she shouted embarrassed.
"What?" asked Ino: "I would have! Did you guys even see him?"
"Can you not talk about my brother? I'm trying to eat here", Sasuke complained.
"Why did he give the necklace?" asked Sakura totally ignoring Sasuke's complaining. That seemed to interest Sasuke too so he didn't stop her.
Hinata blushed.
"Ummm, he said that it's a promise to be there no matter what happens.." she explained.
Ino and Sakura squeaked: "Soooo romantic!"
Sasuke acted vomiting but started smirking after that.
"Please don't do that. We are just friends! He is older than I am so it's a little weird right now..."
"Nonsense! True love doesn't look age", told Ino knowingly.
Hinata didn't know which part of her life was 'true love' right now but decided to stay quiet.